You know The Art League offers classes in painting, drawing, ceramics, fiber arts, sculpture, jewelry, and every other medium under the sun.
Did you know there’s also a class in crime-solving?
Forensic artist Joe Mullins teaches “Mystery Solved: Facial Reconstruction” evenings at The Art League. Students start with only a cast skull, and over seven weeks, they reconstruct a mystery face bit by bit.
Like lots of other classes at The Art League, achieving a proper likeness starts with anatomy. In this case, that means building up layers of muscle and tissue on top of the cast skull, like in the video above. Add in details using other information — age, sex, ancestry — and a picture begins to emerge.
Forensic facial reconstruction is useful for solving mysteries both ancient and modern. For his work as a Forensic Imaging Specialist at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Mullins helps identify unknown crime victims. (See this New York Times article about how his New York workshop created faces to match to murder victims.) He’s also reconstructed a 2,500-year-old mummy’s face.
“Mystery Solved: Facial Reconstruction” is offered in the Fall, Winter, and Spring.
Sign up for our weekly blog newsletter, subscribe to our RSS feed, or like us on Facebook for the latest Art League news. Visit our homepage for more information about our classes, exhibits, and events in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.
You can support The Art League every time you shop through AmazonSmile!
Simply set The Art League as your chosen charity, and every time you shop at smile.amazon.com, a portion of your purchase will be donated to support our mission to share the experience of visual arts with the community.
